High Blood Pressure

A Dose of Sodium Per Day

If you treated your sodium intake like you would a budget for your money, you wouldn’t spend it all in one place. But if you head to a fast food chain for lunch -- that is exactly what you are doing.

Researchers from the New York City Health Department report that the average fast food lunch has more than enough sodium for one person in a day. That means if you eat a second meal, you are increasing your risk of developing high blood pressure dramatically.

The researchers actually looked at receipts from lunches bought for one person from 11 different fast food chains, and added up the total sodium intake. Talk about blowing a whole paycheck, the average was 1,751 mg, which is quite close to the 2,300mg limit for an entire day. Additionally the government recommends that for anyone over the age of 40, and for African-Americans as well as those with high blood pressure, that their sodium budget stay under 1,500mg daily.

Half of the lunches exceeded the 1,500mg mark, and the chains with the most sodium dumped into food were KFC and Popeye’s, and surprisingly McDonald’s was the lowest. The lesser of a long list of evils, as the average lunch there is still 1,477mg.

Most people know the calories are way too high in the majority of fast food meals, and most folks also know they are chock full of saturated fat. So add this one to the list, fast food lunches ensure your sodium budget will be broken. So it’s a not a good idea to put all your sodium in one lunch basket, especially if you want to reduce your risks of developing high blood pressure.

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